ORLANDO, Fla. — Plopped on the couch in his living room, Stan Van Gundy was watching Boston blow past Cleveland in the Eastern Conference semifinals and thought it was some sort of replay from the Celtics’ 2008 NBA title run.
There were the familiar scenes: Kevin Garnet pounding his chest, Ray Allen swishing 3-pointers and Paul Pierce pumping his fist. Boston was winning, and winning big.
Orlando’s coach was perplexed.
“If you look at them, that’s the (same) team,” Van Gundy said. “What would be the difference?”
These days, it might be hard to tell.
Turning back the clock to make another championship run, the resurgent Celtics are healthy again and looking to take down the playoff-perfect Orlando Magic starting Sunday in an Eastern Conference finals pitting the past two conference champions.
The Celtics, with 17 NBA titles and names such as Larry Bird and Bill Russell hanging from the rafters, want to add to their lore and prove that the bullies from Beantown are back. They’ll have to do it against a favored Orlando team that’s hungry to win its first NBA championship.
“Orlando was the team coming into the season where if you wanted to get out of the East, you had to beat Orlando,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. “They’re the team that won the East last year, not Cleveland, and I want to make sure our guys focus on that.”
The motivated Magic, spurred by last year’s NBA finals loss, swept through the first two rounds and have won 14 straight going back to the regular season. They eliminated the Celtics in seven games in the second round a year ago, and went 3-1 against Boston this year.
That might not mean much now.
Garnett, the centerpiece of Boston’s last title, was out with a right knee injury in last year’s playoffs and is now close to full strength for the first time since. Orlando’s starting point guard, Jameer Nelson, also was sidelined with a tear in his right shoulder last season.
Add some fresh faces — headlined by Vince Carter for the Magic and Rasheed Wallace for the Celtics — and put a conference title at stake, and this year’s series is getting a facelift.
“You’re talking about pretty much two different teams,” Pierce said. “It should be an interesting matchup.”
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